ecnal

Great, but what about those among us that don't have access to a laser stainless steel cutting CNC?

I've heavily considered the flat vs radiused fingerboard. Most of the things I read on flat boards have been positive. A lot of people say that there's no difference, especially if you're not chording, which I wouldn't be doing on a bass.

I'm also debating fretted vs fretless. I'd say fretless is definitely the easier option, however I feel that fretted would be much better for some reason.

Decisions, decisions..

The one thing that concerns me is shaping the fingerboard/neck. I think the best way to do it (especially since I don't have the fingerboard picked out yet) would be to trace the neck shape onto the fretboard blank, and cut to shape (so there's 1/4" ish extra on the ends), then use some doublesided tape to adhere it to the neck (after planing to thickness). Then use a straight board that's been jointed flat as a template and hand-route both the fingerboard and the neck at the same time.

Also, I don't have the materials (or money to buy 'em right now) to radius the fingerboard - what's everyone's opinion on flat fingerboards?

Hey everyone. Here's my first REAL build (with actual planning and everything!

We have a 5 string bass, neck-thru. The body is a pine core with a cherry top and mahogany bottom. Neck is a 5 piece, maple/mahogany/maple/mahogany/maple. Custom(ish) shape.

So right now I have the wings glued up (clamps off), the neck profile drawn out with measurements, the headstock designed and tuner holes plotted, the belly contour rasped/sanded and the bridge, pot, and control cavity planned out. I have yet to decide on a pickup, but I'm thinking single passive humbucking type, on the cheaper side.

I did plan this pretty good, but now I have a good feeling of the things I'll need to make/do: I need to make some permanent, decent templates. I'm thinking of using some poplar for this, as I have a TON of it available for free and it's relatively easy to work with. Body and more importantly the NECK! I should've finished the neck routing/shaping/profiling before I even glued it to the body, but I got a little overzealous.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? ANY help is appreciated!!

Thanks!

From what I hear, it's extremely beneficial to befriend someone who owns a mill. The way it works, when it comes down to it, is that the more people who touch the wood, the more it's going to cost.

If you can establish a relationship with a mill owner, you get the wood before it goes through a distributor or five.

Alright. You were all right; the neck angle was all messed up, and the horn was extremely weak. I scrapped that pine one and have started a new build. I gave it a 'strength' test and dropped it off my porch and that horn snapped right off.

Here are some pics from my new build. It's going to be a 5 string neck-thru, a somewhat copy of my old Galveston 5 string.

Body is a pine core with mahogany back and a cherry top. Neck is TBD sometime this week, though I'm leaning to a three piece maple/mahogany/maple or maple/oak/maple. Possibly a 5 piece, but I doubt it.

Here are some progress pics:

Glued up:

Blanks again:

Mahogany (back) wet:

Cherry (front) wet:

As of today:

After I jointed an edge and traced the shape, I noticed I had a good amount of extra wood on each blank. So much, infact, that I made a second set of body wings. For right now, I think I'm just gonna save 'em incase I really screw something up. But once everything gets glued, I'm making a plan for 'em! Maybe a guitar? 4 string?

A couple of questions floating around in my head:

If I wanted to create a small neck angle, how does one do that on a neck-through?

Should I use some graphite rods in the neck to strengthen it at all?

The slippage would be an issue, but if you were to use magnets AND a few strategically-placed 'guide' rods that when the pickguard was in the correct place, would be flush with the top of it, well I think that would work just dandy.

Yes clamping can be easier,but everything else is not.cut your body parts AND shape them AND sand the parts closest to the neck before gluing.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Trying to figure out how one would route a roundover on the inside of a horn near the neck after it's glued. Just doesn't make sense. I like a nice, deep roundover on an instrument (.5 to .75 inch).

So I think I'll cut the wings, sand and route/roundover, plane the neck to the right thickness then mark everything off on it as to where the body'll be glued, etc. Then rough cut the neck, then start the carving process.

Oh, boy. Fun fun.

I'm planning a neck-thru, since my first build wasn't well planned out and I messed it up.

I'm curious if it would be easier to glue the wing blanks to the neck then bandsaw it to shape, or cut the wings individually then glue to the neck?

I'm thinking it would be easier to glue then cut, but just looking for other's opinion.

Thanks!

Your neck heel location does not appear to be central on the body.

I think you will have serious problems with the neck alignment to the body where it is. Maby it would be best to scrap the heel now & figure a way to attach the neck without it. Get a neck template & place it where you want the real neck to be to get things lined up.

Otherwise, this looks like it could be cool. but some forward planning NOW will save you having to bin the lot later.

Yes, I've noticed that and am trying to plan around it. It was originally not much of a problem, but on the curve where the arm contour is, the router took a HUGE chunk out of it, causing me to re-band saw the body shape. It really messed up the balance.

I still have some decent pine and may try again, especially now that I have a template made already with much better proportions than how this body turned out.

The other thing that worries me is routing the neck pocket. I would love to try and make a neck-through, but I hear that it's not so forgiving if you make an error.

I know that some people here are also on TB, but then again some aren't. Figured I'd get everyone's opinion, so sorry if this is a duplicate from TB!

Since I've established myself in an IT position in a local high school, I have an entire woodshop at my disposal. I've wanted to build from scratch for a while now but haven't had the resources (apartment livin') until now.

Pics! Most are from my phone, so lousy quality. There's also a crack in the plastic of my phone, hence the weird mark on most of the pics. Here's a few of the shop area:

Stages:

Here's where I'm at as of now:

This is, above all, a learning experience. I'm not hoping for anything to come out very playable but I'm aiming for it. I'm planning on a lined fretless 5'er, with donor hardware from an old 5 string with a cracked neck I have.

The body shape was a rough sketch and done mostly freehand. I tried masonite for a template but it was too thin and the router bit destroyed it. So I made a new template out of plywood which is holding up quite nicely.

The only hardware I may end up purchasing for this is a trussrod and soapbar/MM style pickup; the donor bass has two J pups which I think would be a little cramped on this body based on my sketches.

If I've learned anything so far, it's PLAN AHEAD. I kind of dove into this headfirst without much in the way of life-size sketches, etc etc. I'm kinda wingin' it. While I'm still having fun, I'm slightly concerned about the final product. Only time will tell.

I do enjoy working with the pine, however. Very soft and easy to work with, although I'm curious what the weight balance will feel like. I think i'm going for a smaller headstock.

Some questions:

First of all, for a 'cheapie' build (but also overall), what would you suggest for a trussrod? I don't want to go crazy on an amazing $40 double action beast. Just something simple. Any stewmac/allparts product numbers that anyone's willing to throw my way?

The thing that worries me most is routing the truss channel. For a single action, it must be a bowed channel? Silicone to hold it in snug? How snug/well should the rod fit without any silicone/whatever?

Thanks!

If it only feels dry and scratchy, but it isn't actually rough, get some lemon oil and soak the fretboard with it. Put plenty on and let it soak right into the wood. Then apply some more and let that soak in. If it feels better, then level, crown, and polish the frets if they need it, and apply another couple of coats of lemon oil, and buff the whole thing up.

Thanks for the advice! That sounds much easier than my idea.

Haven't posted on here in a while. Getting back into luthiery a little bit, not that I was ever deep into it to begin with. Anyways.

So I bought a Galveston LP copy on the 'bay. A hundred bucks, I figured 'why not'? I bought a 5 string Galveston bass in highschool and still have it and love it. Some new pups and misc. hardware and it plays great.

So I figured I'd give 'em another shot. Photos below are from the auction, and are better than any I could take myself, so they'll do for now. I just got it in the mail today when I came home from work. I must say, out of the box, it's not bad at all. The strings are ****, of course, but as far as tuners, etc go it's definitely on the higher end of the 'made in china' label it proudly wears. The finish is really great. No flaws that I can find. The plastic electronics cover isn't the best, but I think a tiny bit of reshaping and taking a little depth off it will do the trick. I think I may even make a new one and use magnets to hold it on - same for the truss rod and switch covers.

I have yet to plug it in and hear the pups, but I'm guessing that they're 'eh'. They'll end up getting replaced with some of those Golden Age ones from Stewmac, probably. I'm not gonna spend a ton on pickups, but they should make a nice upgrade I"m thinking. Anyone have any experience with the Golden Age pups? The reviews seem pretty positive!

Gotoh bridge and tailpeice, new pots, switch, and jack. I think I'll add the 'Rhythm' and 'Treble' switch back plate in cream color. Think i may go with the Grover tuners, but does anyone have suggestions? Something locking..

Here's pics!

I do wish it had binding around the body, though. The fingerboard feels a little dry/scratchy. What would remedy that, save for de-fretting and sanding/etc?

I've never really messed with my truss rod before, always been pretty good. A tiny adjustment here and there.

I refinished my five string after years of not touching it. Came out good, but the action was horrible. So I adjusted the neck until it was more or less straight (eyeballing it) and the strings are unplayable, rubbing on 75% of the frets. I adjusted the saddles at the bridge - they're now all the way up and it's still unplayable.

What is an acceptable truss rod adjustment? Is a little curve in the neck OK?

I have a 10" Delta, circa the early 1990s. It works, but as mentioned above, be ready for multiple cuts. And go nice and slow.

But if you can afford it, go for one with more balls that's a little bit bigger, only reason I didn't is cause mine was free